► All-new EX90 electric SUV tested
► Seven seats and up to 510bhp
► Comfort and refinement maxed out
510bhp and a 0-62mph time quicker than a Honda Civic Type R. I know we’re all getting used to electric cars doing silly performance stats, but this new Volvo EX90 – a seven-seat family SUV remember – really is taking the mick.
The EX90 is Volvo’s electric answer to the XC90, offering practical transport in a clean design and with plenty of safety and tech on board. The downside? Ticking another electric car cliché, it’s punchily priced, to say the least. Figures start at £96,255 until a cheaper, rear-wheel drive only version comes along later.
At a glance:
Pros: Whisper quiet, comfort levels, range, safety
Cons: Questions around charging speeds, frightening price
What’s new?
Everything. It sits on the same platform as the five-seat only Polestar 3 and is the only current Volvo to ride on that set of underpinnings.
All the safety kit on board is bang up to date. Volvo is still making progress with passive safety systems like the airbags and crash structures, constantly evolving the design as more is learnt about car crashes (it has access to data from 50,000 accidents to help on that front).
But active safety is also to the fore, with a new lidar sensor on the car’s roof (the taxi-esque lump that looks bizarre) that can detect objects up to 250m away to make sure the car’s systems react as they should do. For the time being, it’s only processing data but from next year it will be turned on to work with the car’s systems. Volvo prefers a combination of sensors and cameras, unlike Tesla which insists that the latter are up to the job. There’s also a two-sensor ‘driver understanding’ system.
All a bit too much nanny state? Possibly, but we rarely found the system to trigger annoyingly. The EX90 certainly bonged a lot less than certain rivals.
What are the specs?
Two power levels are available at launch – a Twin Motor (402bhp, 568lb ft) and Twin Motor Performance (501bhp, 671lb ft). The quicker of the two does 0-62mph in just 4.9 seconds.
Despite all the performance, the range is impressive with a theoretical maximum of 374 miles. In the real world, that’s more likely as 300 miles thanks to the 107kWh battery. All those figures compare favourably to the Mercedes EQS SUV.
The penalty, as ever, is weight. The Volvo weighs 2787kg so seven up, so it’s going to be sailing close to the 3500kg maximum payload for a car in the UK.
Boot volume ranges from 1915 with all the seats folded to 310 with seven people in place. The Kia EV9’s respective figures are 2318 and 333.
How does it drive?
With a comfort and refinement rarely matched. Wind noise suppression is the most impressive aspect, Volvo managing to damp down almost all the intrusion you normally get. It’s a remarkably zen place to be as a result.
With twin chamber air suspension, the car glides across most tarmac easily. Body control over primary bumps is excellent, with minimal float and effortless flow. The 22-inch wheels are also largely well controlled, although the air suspension did show signs of occasionally losing control of the sheer unsrpung mass at each corner.
This is no multi-dimensional car, though. A left-right flick reveals the limits of physics of controlling this much mass, as the body flips from side to side with more roll than would be ideal. Steering feel is entirely absent.
Does that matter? Not really, as the Volvo is as good as the Kia EV9 and light years better than the Mercedes EQS SUV. It does what it needs to do.
What about the interior?
Largely brilliant. Build quality is excellent and the design is, as ever in recent Volvos, calming and with a tastefully expensive flourish. Our test car is dominated by the white wood finish and similarly coloured non-leather seats. Black is also available, as is a wool blend that looks great but itches if you’re wearing shorts. Volvo claims to have utilised 45kg of recycled plastics across the car.
All seven seats fold easily – the middle ones by mechanical lever, the rear most set electrically – and they drop into the floor, presumably a tricky engineering exercise given the skateboard-style battery underneath.
Thanks the efficiencies of EV packaging, there is loads of room in the middle row. You sit higher than the front seats so the visibility is excellent but even allowing for that, there is a vast amount of leg and headroom.
Access to the rear seats is easy, with just a flick of a lever and the seat canters and then slides forward. With the middle row in its rearmost position, knee room in the back is tight so you need to slide the middle row forward. But the car will swallow a family of six with ease.
Before you buy (trims and rivals)
For the time being, Volvo is only offering two power choices – the Twin Motor Performance tested here and the Twin Motor. Both are also only currently available in the Ultra trim. That’s likely to change in the near future, as both Core and Plus models should be offered, as well as the aforementioned lower powered model.
For now, the standard spec is as you’d expect for something at this price point: extensive. B&W’s excellent, 25-speaker sound system is standard, as is Google Maps-based nav, Apple CarPlay, front massage seats, power-folding rear seats and a Qualcomm-powered infotainment that’s meant to reduce latency.
Rivals are few and far between. The Mercedes EQS SUV is tilting at a similar luxury end of the market but with questionable dynamics and looks that leave most cold, the EX90 has it well beaten.
The Kia EV9 is a more interesting proposition. Currently vastly cheaper than the EX90, it also offers better charging performance and a similar vehicle-to-grid capacity. The Kia is similarly set up for comfort but it lacks the last bit of ride sophistication that you get from the Volvo.
Verdict
Is it going to transform your life by making every journey hugely exciting and rewarding? No. There are other SUVs that will manage that, albeit without seven seats.
But if you can make the finances work, there are few better ways of getting seven people cleanly around the country: the EX90 is comfortable, refined, practical and stuffed full of enough safety kit to salve any anxious parents’ worries. Even the frustrating touchscreen is showing signs of improvement.